Gas turbine engines, such as those to power modem commercial aircraft, include a compressor for pressurizing a supply of air, and a turbine for extracting energy from the resultant combustion gases. The combustor typically comprises radially spaced inner and outer liners. The liners, single or double-wall construction, define an annular combustion chamber that resides axially between the compressor and turbine. Arrays of circumferentially distributed combustion air holes penetrate each liner at multiple axial locations to admit combustion air into the combustion chamber. A plurality of circumferentially distributed fuel injectors project into the forward end of the combustion chamber to supply the fuel for combustion.
At one end of the combustor is a bulkhead panel which provide heat shielding to the fore combustor section as is subjected to relatively high temperatures. As a result, it is necessary to provide the bulkhead panel with effective cooling.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved bulkhead panel for use in gas turbine engine combustors.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bulkhead panel which has an effective cooling scheme associated within and one that inherently supports the insertion of two or more fuel nozzles and guides per panel to the net reduction in part count for a given combustor.